Communication regarding the Library service between London Borough Barnet Council and DCMS

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department for Culture, Media and Sport,

Please provide me with copies of all written and verbal communications between Barnet Council and DCMS from 1st August 2018 and 1st February 2019.
Please note this is a revised version of my original request from January 2019 as you were unable to provide information for my original request.

Yours faithfully,

Ruth Kersley

FOI Mailbox,

Thank you for your email which is now being dealt with by the Freedom of
Information Team at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 
You will receive a response to your information request within 20 working
days of receipt.
  

no-reply@dcms.ecase.co.uk on behalf of FOI Team,

1 Attachment

Our Ref: FOI2019/01432

Please see the attached letter from the Department for Digital, Culture,
Media and Sport.

Kind regards,

Ministerial Support Team

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Dear [email address] on behalf of FOI Team,
In reference to the letter received yesterday please can you now attend to this request as follows:

Please limit this request to officials in DCMS libraries team only. Also regarding verbal communication can you please provide only notes or any other written record of any phone conversations.

Yours sincerely,

Ruth Kersley

FOI Mailbox,

Thank you for your email which is now being dealt with by the Freedom of
Information Team at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 
You will receive a response to your information request within 20 working
days of receipt.
  

no-reply@dcms.ecase.co.uk on behalf of FOI Team,

1 Attachment

Dear Ruth Kersley

The date that the response is due for your request, FOI2019/02174, has
been changed to 30th April

Kind Regards

Sophia Domzalska

no-reply@dcms.ecase.co.uk on behalf of FOI Team,

2 Attachments

Our Ref: FOI2019/02174

Please see the attached letter from the Department for Digital, Culture,
Media and Sport.

Kind regards,

Ministerial Support Team

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Dear Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport's handling of my FOI request 'Communication regarding the Library service between London Borough Barnet Council and DCMS'.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
Your Ref: FOI2019/02174
Date of initial decision 8/4/19

I am writing to ask you to review your decision made on the 8th April 2019 to refuse information requested on an FOI on the 4th March 2019.

Since I submitted my requests, the complaint by Save Barnet Libraries, requesting an inquiry under s.10 Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 (“the Act”) has been refused by the Minister for Culture. Therefore, many of the stated reasons for the refusal of disclosure fall away.

In addition, I wish to make the following points:
Data about library service would normally be published
1) The refusals do not distinguish between different types of information contained within the communication and therefore fail to consider which elements are either already in the public domain or would reasonably be expected to be published based on past practice.
2) In particular, substantial data about the usage of the library service is released by Barnet Council at the end of each financial year and included in the annual CIPFA return. Any data that comprises these categories (for example, breakdowns of visitor, borrower and loan figures and data about who has accessed self-service libraries) cannot be withheld as it is normal for it to be published on the Council’s website (e.g. https://open.barnet.gov.uk/dataset/libra...).
3) We note that loan figures and other information about the library service was provided by Barnet Council to Barbara Jacobson, another Barnet resident, via Theresa Villiers MP, for the purpose of answering questions put by her and other residents (letter attached dated 3 April 2018, with the recipient’s permission).
4) Therefore, any communications that involve presenting or discussing data about the library service or needs of library users or answering questions about such data must not be withheld merely because they are being communicated within the complaint.
5) In this context, we note that library service data from 2017/18, which would normally have been published on the Council’s website, has been disclosed via FOI, but has not been published in the usual manner on the Council’s website. We fear that this indicates an intention to limit transparency and legitimate public debate about the impact of the service reductions on library usage.
Illogical to withhold as previous communications have been released by DCMS
6. DCMS has previously released similar communications up to November 2017 to Ms Barbara Jacobson.
Safe space exemption does not apply
7. The decision has already been made.
8. Where the communications involve policy discussion between DCMS and Barnet Council, we note that you claim there is a need for a “safe space” for advice and exchange of views. However, DCMS is acting under its quasi-judicial power under s.10 the Act to investigate whether the library service is compliant, not under the general duty of superintendence.
9. Therefore, at this stage of investigation DCMS should not be providing advice to Banet Council about its library provision, as this would circumvent s.10, which directs the Minister to use a (public) local inquiry as the means to resolve any serious doubt about library provision and make recommendations as to a remedy.
10. The failure of DCMS and Barnet Council to release information pertinent to a statutory complaint that had been recognised to be sufficiently meritorious to be investigated places the complaining party (Save Barnet Libraries and Barnet residents acting in support of SBL) at an unfair disadvantage compared to the Council. I enclose a letter written by SBL to DCMS regarding this issue (letter of 20 March 2019). The issues outlined in this letter remain relevant even though the complaint is now determined, as Barnet residents are considering what steps they could take, for example if the material supplied by the Council to DCMS was not correct or was incomplete. As you can see from the material supplied by the Council to the MP (point 11 below and attached) there is a history of misleading information regarding the reductions to the library service.
Prejudice to Council’s interests
11. We note that the refusal of this FOI request has been agreed by the Monitoring Officer at Barnet Council and that one of the reasons given was that “The Council considers that prejudice will be likely to happen to its interests if information were to be disclosed”. We note in fact that Ms Barbara Jacobson submitted a conduct complaint to the Monitoring Officer (Mr Tatlow) on 10 July 2018 regarding the provision of false information by Council Officers to Theresa Villiers MP about a crucial issue of access restrictions on young people. Evidence from the previous disclosure provided by DCMS to Ms Jacobson was included in this complaint. The Council has since corrected the information; however, the Monitoring Officer never answered the complaint. It is particularly worrying that the Monitoring Officer is maintaining secrecy when previously the council has provided incorrect information to third parties.
The disclosure of this material is of high public importance as DCMS has a national role of safeguarding library services. The manner of the Minister's execution of his role affects not only residents in Barnet but those across the country whose local authorities are subject to similar complaints.

I look forward to your early response.
Yours sincerely
Ruth Kersley

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

FOI Mailbox,

Thank you for your email which is now being dealt with by the Freedom of
Information Team at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 
You will receive a response to your information request within 20 working
days of receipt.
  

no-reply@dcms.ecase.co.uk on behalf of FOI Team,

2 Attachments

Our Ref: IR2019/04514

Please see the attached letter from the Department for Digital, Culture,
Media and Sport.

Kind regards,

Ministerial Support Team

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport